Cody says “I hate fake geeks like Scoble”

Why would you need Ward Cunningham to set up a wiki for you? Look, this is the process:

1. Download tarball (.tar.gz) of MediaWiki
2. Extract Contents
3. Rename folder to something like “wiki”
4. Upload to server (FTP, etc…)
5. chmod 777 /config directory
6. Create SQL database and link to a username
6. Browse to http://www.website.com/wiki
7. Follow the onscreen steps
8. Put in the DB name and DB username
9. Finish!
10. (delete /config for security reasons)

Total time: ~10 minutes

So the whole point of this is computers geeks should know this already. It’s what makes them a COMPUTER GEEK.

Arch: “no industry insight.”

Thanks for the laugh!

Why don’t you come out and sign your real name to comedy like this so we can check out the janitorial job you do to pay the rent.

Cody: I’m playing with ya! You need to see the humor in this.

You’re not a real geek, though. That’s what Ward told me. He hand coded his own wiki and didn’t download it from no place else.

Oh, and I do have my own wiki running here. I’m using Office 2007 and Sharepoint 2007 which has a wiki built in. It’s running on my Windows Vista machine. So, I guess I qualify. Oh, I interviewed that team too: http://channel9.msdn.com/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=211511 — they showed me how getting a wiki is a lot easier than doing all those steps you listed.

Robert, it’s all about hard skills vs. soft skills.

Hiring somebody else to do it (negotiating price, “collaboration”, outsourcing, etc): soft skills. Not geeky. MBA-like, lardass, old timer. The reason longhorn is late, missing most of its promised features, and has no WinFS.

Doing it your own damn self: hard skills. Geeky.

Stop picking on a kid just because he disagrees with you.

Oh, and Cody, go look at this photo over on Channel 9. Hint: you’re the guy in the blue shirt. Heheh.

Threatening people on your own blog? Not funny.

Anon: if you think Longhorn is late cause I (or anyone with soft skills) was involved, think again. Gates messed it up cause he put in too many features that were built on top of too many unfinished technologies. But then anyone who read Philip Su knows that: http://blogs.msdn.com/philipsu/archive/2006/06/14/631438.aspx

Oh, geez, now I’m threatening people?

Why am I talking to an anonymous asshole? Oh, I don’t know. It’s cause I have nothing better to do cause my TV is packed for the move and I’ve already read all my feeds.

Hey, Cody, if I need a Wiki server set up, I’ll just call the guy (Ward Cunningham) who invented them.

1- How is that efficient? A real geek like Cody can set one up for himself in 10 minutes! I suppose industry should hire dozens of people with skills like yours to “call” Ward Cunningham, spend hours setting up and appointment, wining and dining him – instead of a 21-year-old kid who’ll do it himself in 10 minutes.
2- Then why did you post about what software to use?

Why am I talking to an anonymous asshole?

Geez, Robert. Are you that closed to alternate viewpoints?

Let’s keep the conversation naked, bro.

I am NOT picking on you. I am arguing with your viewpoint. If you didn’t want to discuss this, why did you highlight some kid’s blog on your own?

Anon: why did I post about what software to use?

Because I wanted to know what my audience thought was best. I got lots of great ideas and learned about many wiki services that I hadn’t heard of before (and couldn’t find in Google). I even had one guy call me up on my cell phone and say he was in the middle of doing an event-oriented wiki right now and thought I’d be a good test case.

So what if you know how to install a wiki package. I do too. I just should have installed Sharepoint 2007 on a server and done it myself. Then I wouldn’t have to listen to anonymous assholes anymore.

>Geez, Robert. Are you that closed to alternate viewpoints?

You’ve crossed the line to assholeness. Cody was quite capable of fighting his own battles. And he signs his own name to his posts. Which I admire a hell of a lot.

But, I guess you’re gonna keep ripping me. Go ahead.

Yes, I see the humor in all of this. It may seem like I’m pissed off, but honestly, I’m not really. I’m actually chilling out to some music right now, and I’ve had more laughs over all this than anything in a long time.

But, I really don’t want to piss Scoble off, because he was kind enough to propose a job offer that might happen. And for a college kid, that’s the best thing I can think of.

Hey Cody, if you had seen the excitement over the red sofa from Gnomedex you would be in no doubt as to Scoble’s geek credentials, he is the “real McCoy”, a bonafide geek (in the most respectful of ways).

I went out for a few hours, to be a non-geek on a Friday night with some friends… Look at all the fun I missed! Good to know so many opinions of geek-hood exist. I thought mine was the only one.

OK, I admit, I don’t program, but I did follow along most of the evening via NewsGator Mobile on my phone. But, now my schizophrenic geek knowledge (based on today’s events in the blogosphere/echo-chamber/bits and bytes world of joy…) doesn’t know if that was geeky or not.

Maybe I’m just a nerd!

To All~ Thanks for the beginning and end of a fun evening in the comment section/mudpit/peanutgallery. Oh screw it. We’re all geeks!

Everyone has his own version of the definition of “geek”.

Would it lead anywhere?

I doubt that.

Wow – everyone involved in this discussion is a geek.

Just imagine trying to describe what took place here to anyone who doesn’t use the Internet…

“Uhm, yeah so Scoble said…then Cody said….then this other guy said…”

After they are done staring at you like you are a mad-man, they might ask again, “Now where did this take place?”

On the Internet, man! You know, the place where /EVERYTHING/ happens, but it doesn’t really /EXIST/.

Michael B

Scoble is, infact, justified. Cody is mistaken.

As Eric Schmidt recently put it in an interview, this is the day and age of “Fast Searchers”. I needed a wiki recently, and I *could have* set it up myself. Instead, I asked someone else on the team to do it, *choosing* instead to focus on what I am good at and what I like doing: software innovation. I am not as excited about the regular stuff like installing wikis, as I am about designing the next generation of wikis (for an eg). I think the following makes me a geek:
- I look and tend to act like one. Proud to be a geek and of relatively poor social skills.
- I spend 16 hrs a day in front of a computer (even the breaks, and breakfast, lunch and dinner).
- I can code better than most people (engineers,etc) I have come across and simply have a better perspective on the software/web world.

Yet, I refuse to install a wiki by myself unless I have to. Doesn’t make me any less of a geek.

Cody, I would be impressed if you can install and configure TWiki, one of the tougher wiki softwares to deal with.

Essentailly, Scoble is basically what in professional sports world is called a Jock Sniffer. A person who hangs around with professional athletes or jocks in general, thinking this will make them higher on the social food chain. Basically they like to hang around professional atheletes because they aren’t one themselves. It’s why Mark Cuban bought the Dallas Mavericks. He’s the ultimate jock sniffer.

Scoble does the same thing but instead of professional atheltes, they are computer and software pro’s. I mean, look at the amount of name dropping he does just in one hour, let alonge one day. Nothing wrong with being a jock sniffer. You just have to be willing to admit your place on the food chain.

Scoble I just can’t believe you let Cody get you sucked in. You apparently have some background in journalism. Did you learn nothing in that profession? People will write what they want to write. Ignore it if it’s not true. Do you really think Cody had the ability to affect your reputation. The amount of time you are spending defending yourself certainly makes one wonder.

Wow, all this backed up traffic, looking at the accident on the other side of the road…

Maybe Dave can define ‘geek’, like he defined ‘blog’…and then all will be settled. I mean, if Dave says it, nothing else left to say.

Reminds me of the Seinfeld episode where they’re having the fight over the parking spot in front of Jerry’s and the guy that’s the biggest idiot is calling Jerry a phoney.

>Do you really think Cody had the ability to affect your reputation.

LayZ: if I’m a jock sniffer, what does that make you? Someone who told a jock sniffer off. Every interaction you have with people determines what they think of you (and what others think of you).

You have to pay attention to everyone in this new world.

Why? Well, telling a handful of people something can get spread around the world in 36 hours.

But, I didn’t link to Cody to defend my reputation. I thought he had something interesting to say. The fact that so many of you got drawn out of your lurking and were offended enough (either by me or Cody) to post tells me something. Not sure what quite yet, but I do find it all very interesting.

Who the heck cares what the definition of geek is? It seems to me it’s more important to consider what one contributes to the community. Whatever that community may be and however it is defined. A Unixhead and a reputable blogger should be able to agree on that point and have some neutral ground to start the conversation from, no?

Interesting. I haven’t read all the replies, either here or on Cody’s blog, but I’ll attempt throw my two cents out there. This comment assumes that Cody was serious, is somewhat smart, and was not *just* trying to make noise and get noticed.

I think there’s a definite tendency among us young bucks (I’m 21) to dive into something tech-related, pick up some knowledge and skills, get proud, and be ready to deride those who are established, have been around the block, etc., but don’t immediately appear to be “hackers” or “coders” or what have you. I got into Linux when I was 14 or so, and for a few years I was in “show the world what I can do mode”, and I spouted obtuse sentences like, “From the ksh shell, I can accomplish anything and everything I need to, with plenty of power through amazing commands”, just like Cody does. With regularity. And things I would later recoil at, like Cody will five years from now, when he reads “My BSD server is just a shell (ksh) that has sshd running” again. And for a while I was all about showing friends my OpenBSD installation (oh so secure!) or how I could write a Perl script that could do ANYTHING.

But at some point, you mellow out, you learn that theory matters as much as practice, that suits have their place, and that you’re probably never going to be terribly close to the 100% mark, as far as skill and knowledge goes. For every “fake geek” you happen to notice, there is someone above you on the ladder who thinks you’re a joke, and has good reason to. And you learn to stop comparing apples to oranges, and you stop worrying about whether or not a technology evangelist employed by Microsoft knows more than your Linux hobbyist self.

Just to clarify my last comment, I incorrectly identified Cody as a Linux hobbyist. I don’t want Cody to think that I’m picking on Linux users, or lumping him into some group that I don’t or can’t identify with. He uses OpenBSD, and thus he and I share something in common, as I much prefer BSD to Linux.

I sincerely hope Cody is better at geeking than he is at writing comments, because I got three sentences into his comment and I knew who it was by the stereotypically geeky errors. Talk about lowering expectations; if his code is as meticulous as his English, I’m surprised he can construct anything more complex than a Guildwars avatar.

It’s fine to do everything yourself, but then you’d better be GOOD at everything.

Out of a hundred…you’d think there would be one good looking photogenic no pen in my pocket protector where’s my eye glasses I’ve been up for three nights programming too tired to talk can’t you see the shadows under my eyes where’s the toothpicks or starbucks…whatever, someone get me a macbook for company!